


Harbourage

by esama



Series: Beginning of an Age [3]
Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Vampire Hunter D, Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Vampire Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 01:04:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11817963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esama/pseuds/esama
Summary: "A bird may love a fish but where will they live?"





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Unbetaed as usual  
> And seriously this will not make much sense unless you see Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust - this starts right at the end of the movie

There is something intrinsically wrong about watching a Noble weep. It's like a concentration of everything a vampire shouldn't be, all that power, all that threatening aura – all those dead people – and he's weeping over a dying girl. It's a lie, it has to be a lie, Nobles aren't like that – but he's still there on his knees weeping over a little mortal human being, uncaring about the two vampire hunters at his back, both after his blood.

And Leila's finger keeps failing to pull the trigger.

"Charlotte please, don't do this," the Noble whispers in shaking voice. "Charlotte, please, you can't leave me. Come back to me, please."

Leila grits her teeth, aiming her pulse gun square between his shoulders, just at the right angle to hit his heart. It would kill the girl too, but she's already dying – dying in the vampire's arms, so would it matter if she died too, it would just cut short the inevitable process. Hell at this point it would be mercy, probably – on so many levels and

And she still can't pull the fucking trigger!

"I'm sorry Meier," the girl whispers, her voice only barely there anymore. "It doesn't – seem we can make it to the stars after all. I wished, I hoped... I'm so sorry. It was such a beautiful dream."

"It's not a dream – we will get there," the Noble says quickly, though he's obviously a shitty liar – even the girl doesn't believe him, her weak smile twitching into territory of pity for a and the vampire noble bows his head. "We'll make it there, I promise you – I will take you there –"

Nonsense, all of it. She's going to be _dead_ and he'd follow suit just as soon as Leila's hand would start damn working and just take him out. He'd deserve it too, all the people he left dead in his wake, Nolt and Borgoff and Kyle and –

"Damn it," Leila mutters and her vision blurs a little as her hand cramps in attempt of taking the shot that she doesn't actually want to do. "Damn it, damn it, what the hell is this –"

There's a presence to her right, the same vague sense of eldritch horror wafting off Meier Link, except this one is a little more familiar and infinitely colder. D steps out of the shadows, looking somehow paler than even usually against the backdrop of the ancient castle of Nobility with all of its gold and splendour.

Leila's eyes take him in almost desperately, looking for a way out in his expression – is he going to attack Meier and take the decision out of her hands, or will he put his sword down and give some sort of justification to her inability to pull the trigger?

Meier notices him too and glances over his shoulder at the dhampir, his face pulled to a snarl that falls a little short of threatening and lands somewhere in the neighbourhood of mortally wounded and dying instead – and then the girl's hand is on the vampire's cheek, weakly tugging at him, making him turn his face back to her, and she smiles.

"I'm so glad you're here, Meier," the girl murmurs. "I wouldn't want – to be anywhere else when I died... except right here, in your arms."

"Charlotte, please, _don't..._ "

Leila hisses out a silent curse and, finally, pulls her gun up, to aim at the ceiling instead. It's so stupid, it's _so stupid_ and he sounds so fucking pathetic, broken and withering, like it's him who's dying and not the girl and – and she never knew Nobles could sound like that. Could feel like that.

And it hits her, momentarily, that she's not only buying this fucking charade, but she believes him. Meier Link actually loves the girl wholeheartedly. What the fuck.

"Don't leave me," the Noble whispers, bowing his head and catching the girl's hand as it falls, its strength lost. He cradles the hand to his cheek, and the sound he makes can only be called a whimper. Leila can just imagine it; the fading warmth of human skin against the chill of a vampire's, all of it's just so fucking poetic it hurts to watch. Hurts to listen.

A movement draws her attention way, thankfully, and Leila looks instead at D, who is now moving in on Meier and the girl, slowly walking towards them. Is he going to do it, then? He's not holding his sword; it's safely in his sheath...

"Meier," D says, the cold even tone of his voice a terrible contrast to the wretched sound of Meier, hissing at him. "Move aside."

Damn, Leila thinks and quickly jumps down from her vantage point on a ledge overlooking the hall. D's more cold blooded than she thought, after everything.

"No," Meier snarls, clutching onto the girl with terrible, trembling gentleness. "You can't have her, not now."

"Move aside."

The girl is still breathing shallowly; walking closer Leila can see her face, deathly pale with blue lips and shadows under her eyes. It doesn't seem she can actually see anything though; her eyes stare listlessly in front of him, finding no purchase even on her beloved Noble's face.

"These are her final moments; you will not take them from me!" Meier growls at the dhampir.

D's expression doesn't change, still utterly icy, the bastard, but he's still not going for his sword either. Leila sidles closer, just in case... what, she's not sure, but if it comes down to these two idiot men fighting, she'll grab Charlotte and take her to safety – even if she's dying, she doesn't deserve death trampled by couple of idiots.

D looks down as the girl in Meier's arms lets out a shaky inhale – and then struggles to breathe again. His eyes narrow and he moves, faster than Leila can see, around Meier. As the vampire snarls, D ducks under his swinging, scythe like arm, and then, ducked low on his knees and single palm, the dhampir presses his left palm on Charlotte's forehead.

"Breathe," he orders.

Over her gun, now aimed at all three of them, Leila can see how Charlotte's fading eyes open wide and her mouth falls open in a rasping gasp of air. It looks painful – not like he gave her strength or anything like that, more like he's forcing her to find the last dregs in the bottom of what little of her own strength she had left.

Meier looks at the dhampir, then at the girl, opening his mouth and then, with all the speed of a Noble, switching tracks. "Can you save her?" he demands the dhampir, who looks down at the girl, at the two pinprick wounds at her neck.

"No," the dhampir says. "She's lost too much blood."

Meier's face twists and he looks down at the girl, who looks up at him in half panic. "Charlotte, please," Meier whispers to her. "Stay with me, just for a bit longer."

"Meier," the girl gasps and inhales again, deeply, almost mechanically. "I – I don't – I'm sorry, I'm so sorry my love –"

Why? Leila lowers her shaking gun, though she kind of feels like just throwing the thing at D because – why? However he's doing it, it's just prolonging the inevitable, and he's not doing it kindly. It looks like a terrible struggle now, not the peaceful slipping away Charlotte was doing before – why?

"Why?" Meier asks shakily, as he strokes his hand down the girl's cheek.

D doesn't say anything, watching them with nothing on his face – and something... terrible in his eyes. It reminds Leila of that moment in the rain, when they talked. Understanding, Leila thought then, was a terrible thing to have.

"To buy some time," the dhampir then says and shifts a little. As Leila steps closer, now standing at their side, the dhampir takes something from under his cloak that gleams red and crystalline in the light of what seems like million candles lighting the hall. At first Leila thinks it's those candy shaped synthetic blood pops she'd spied in his gear – but it isn't.

It's a stone – a crystal about long as his finger.

Meier says nothing, glancing at the thing and then ignoring it in favour of watching his lover breathe. D looks at the crystal with something worse than understanding in his eyes and then he bows his head.

Then he snaps the crystal in two between his fingers. The sound is eerily loud and sharp in the silence of Charlotte's mechanical breathing – but it has nothing on what follows.

It seems like a sound that Leila doesn't so much hear with her ears as she hears it with her _spine_ , a crack that splits the air and echoes from the glowing, shining walls and floors all around them. It's loud enough to make Meier jump where he sits on his knees, but D doesn't so much as a twitch – he'd been expecting it, or something like it.

And then there is a fifth person in the hall.

A man in gold and red robes and cloaks stands beside D now, appearing out of fucking nowhere. Black haired, bespectacled and looking a rather expressively stunned, it takes Leila a moment to recognize him for what he is.

A Noble.

"D," the Nobleman says slowly, looking down, taking in the scene before him. Meier Link looks up and snarls at him, making the black haired man arch an eyebrow and then look at the girl between the blond Noble and the dhampir. Then he looks down.

There's a round red pendant on his chest – and its glowing blood red light down on the vampire, human and dhampir before him.

D glances up at him from under the brim of his hat, glancing at the pendant and then ignoring it in favour of the man himself. "Can you take her to a hospital?"

The strange Noble touches the pendant for a moment and then looks at the girl, something in his expression shifting. He too goes down on his knees and then, ignoring Meier's snarling, he checks the girl, touching her neck, checking the bite mark.

"This isn't real?" he says slowly. "There's no infection."

"It was an illusion," D says.

"Ah," the strange Noble says in understanding and looks at the girl. Then he snaps his fingers. "Retta!"

A soft pop and then yet another creature appears – this one distinctively non human. It's a gangly little thing wearing a silk tunic of all things, with big eyes and floppy ears. "Yes, Milordy Potter?" she asks, bowing her head.

"Get me Blood Replenishing Potions from the Hospital Wing, please."

The elf hesitates. "All the potions are – old," she says. "Retta doesn't think they are good anymore.

"Well, you know what to do. Time Turners – take as long as you need, but I need the potions now, please," the Noble says.

The little creature vanishes – and then instantly reappears again, holding a silver shaded tray and number of rounded crystal phials on it. The Noble checks them over and nods, taking one of them and turning to the dying human girl.

"What is that?" Meier demands.

"What it says on the tin," Potter answers and glances at D. "Blood replenishing."

D says nothing though his hand shifts a little, and Meier hesitates just long enough for Potter to force the girl to drink the potion. Charlotte makes a noise of objection but drinks it – it doesn't really look like she has any choice on the matter.

"Keep her breathing," Potter says to D, putting the phial back onto the tray the gangly creature is holding and watching Charlotte closely.

The effect of the potion isn't instant, but it is noticeable. Charlotte's lips lose their bluish tint and the shadows under her eyes lessen – though she still looks terribly pale. After moment of considering her, Potter takes another potion and makes her drink that too – this time with less struggle. She obviously felt the effect herself too.

"Charlotte," Meier whispers, his voice utterly broken with the sudden, new found hope, as the girl's colour turns from deathly pale into healthier pink and she blinks her eyes, probably regaining her vision from the blackness of bloodloss.

"Meier," the girl murmurs back, and her voice is trembling even worse. "I'm – I'm not going to –?"

"I'd like to see her under professional observation for a bit," Potter says, pressing a single, strangely blunt nailed finger under the girl's chin, testing her pulse. "But no, you're not going to die of bloodloss."

Meier's face crumbles and without a word he bows his head to the girl's chest and starts to sob.

"She's starting to breathe on her own now," a strange voice mutters. "You can let go now."

D lifts his palm and Leila thinks she sees something on it, before he closes his fingers and lowers it. Then D looks at the strange Noble he'd pretty much summoned – and Leila forgets all about the palm.

The look the pair shares over sobbing Meier and Charlotte, who goes from surprise and hope to disbelieving laughter, is full of meaning. Potter smiles a little uneasily, and D's face is blank but his eyes are full of mixed feelings. The eye contact between them is _intense_.

"So," Potter says slowly, almost wistfully. "Long time no see, D."

"... hm," the dhampir answers and stands up. The vampire Noble follows suit, resting a hand on the glowing pendant on his chest for a moment before looking away awkwardly.

"So, what happened here?" Potter asks and frowns up at the hall. "Where am I?"

"Castle of Chayte," D says quietly.

Potter says nothing for a moment, almost expectant. "I... have no idea what that is," he then admits.

Leila shakes her head and finally shoves her gun away to its holster. Meier is still sobbing like – well, a heartbroken Noble – and Charlotte has gone from laughter to soothing him, kissing his cheeks and running her hands up and down his shaking back, and it's so unbearably sweet that Leila can't stand to look at them anymore.

"Summoning a Noble out of nowhere," she comments to D. "That's some power you got, D."

That, of course, garners her the Noble's attention, and Potter looks at her with interest. "Hello," he says and then, of all things, holds out his hand. "Harry Potter, how do you do?"

Leila stares at the hand for a moment and then sighs. Fuck it. She shakes it. "Leila Marcus – a vampire hunter. Lovely to meet you." She's not even really lying.

The vampire's mild smile spreads a little. "Lovely to meet you too," he says, and he doesn't sound like he's lying either. Then he glances down at Meier and Charlotte – over whom they'd reached to shake their hands – and then at D. "So. What's going on?"

D looks away, at the castle. "I would like to know myself," he admits and his eyes slide over to Meier and Charlotte. "Why did you come here?"

Meier seems utterly beyond speaking, and it's Charlotte who looks up over his spiky blonde hair, running her fingers through it gently. "We got a letter from a Noblewoman here," she admits. "Meier knew of her. She promised us... sanctuary somewhere, where no one could come between us. In the City of Night. She had passage here, a ship..."

Potter's eyebrows arch and D's eyes narrow slightly. "And why would she promise that?"

"I..." Charlotte frowns. "She seemed... like a romantic. I though she was just being charitable because there... aren't that many Nobles left."

Potter runs a hand over his neck, looking at the girl and the Noble still weeping into her cloak and then he looks away. "City of night," he murmurs. "I think I've heard of that..."

"It was a colony in the void of stars, two light years from earth," D says quietly. "Nobles build it nearly seven thousand years ago. It's in ruins now."

"Ah," Potter says. "And the Noblewoman?"

"Carmilla Elizabeth Bathory," D says. "This is her castle."

That makes Potter turn to him sharply. "Carmilla, the Bloody Countess?" he asks, his voice going tense.

"She's dead," D says and frowns a little. "You know of her?"

Potter's lips press together tightly and he looks up. "I know about her," he agrees and looks around. "I didn't think she was still around."

"Does someone want to share with the class?" Leila asks, resting a hand on her waist while Charlotte finally manages to ease Meier through his bout of sobbing, and push him to a sitting position so that she, too, can sit up. Leila looks her over – she still looks a little pale but better – and then looks at D. "Who's Carmilla?"

"She was an especially vile Noblewoman. Vile enough that other Nobles found her abhorrent. She was supposedly slain by them, thousands of years ago," D says quietly. "Her heart was pierced with a silver sword."

"That should be enough to kill any Noble," Leila says thoughtfully.

Potter runs a hand over his chin, peering up at the castle. Then he looks at Charlotte and then at D. "You said the girl was bitten by an illusion – I take that was Carmilla's work?"

"She tried to use Charlotte to resurrect herself. I imagine that is why she lured them in here, to get at Charlotte," D says and looks at Meier who looks up sharply. "What I don't know is why. Carmilla put a lot of effort into getting Charlotte especially here, when she could have gotten anyone for far less effort. Why her?"

Charlotte's eyes widen a little and Meier frowns, wrapping an eye around her shoulders. "She's dead," he murmurs to her. "She cannot harm you anymore."

"Hm," Potter says, folding his arms and eyeing them thoughtfully. "You're sure Carmilla is dead? And not just in stasis, but properly dead? How?"

"I destroyed her spirit," D says.

Potter narrows his eyes.

"I ate it up," another voice comes from D's direction and the Dhampir lifts his hand. "It was _disgusting_."

"Ah," Potter says, his voice a little faint. "You ate her spirit. I... see." he shakes his head and then looks down at his chest – at the glowing pendant. "Well anyway, I can tell you why she might want this girl in particular," he says and touches the pendant. He holds it up a little, at Charlotte's direction, and it glows a little brighter. "She's a witch," he says, and it sounds almost reverent, the way he says it.

"Excuse me?" Meier demands in outrage, almost bristling. "How dare –"

"... witch in the sense that she has old magic, not the terrible-wicked-woman sense," Potter says, smiling a little, and then turning to D. "Magical person with magical blood."

"... that would explain it," D mutters, looking at the pendant in Potter's hand, which looks a lot like the blue one on D's chest.

Leila looks between them and then sighs. Fucking vampires. "Right, okay, wonderful, the witches and bloody vampires, whoopdedoo," she says and shakes her head. "Now what, though? Because in case you forgot," she aims a look at D. "We were contracted to get her," she nods at Charlotte, "back to her family. And away from the vampire. Who supposedly kidnapped her."

Instantly Charlotte clutches onto Meier. "He didn't and I won't – I won't go back," she says. "I won't leave Meier, not now, not ever."

"Yeah, we kind of got that by now," Leila says flatly and looks at D. "What now, D?"

The dhampir looks away, up at the stairs leading up to a pedestal, leading up to what looks like stone coffin. It's splattered with blood – that's probably where all of Charlotte's blood went. He presses his lips a little tighter together, looking displeases and then glancing at Potter.

Potter is watching the human-vampire couple strangely. "A bird may love a fish but where will they live?" he asks quietly and while Charlotte and Meier exchange desperate looks, he glances at D.

D looks back and then away. "How about the shoreline?" he offers and turns his back to Potter.

Potter opens his mouth to say something. "As parting words go, those are worse than the last ones I got," he mutters and looks away with a grimace.

"I was going to get my horse," D says dryly without turning around. "It cost me a lot of money and I'm not leaving it here."

"... oh," Potter says, a little sheepish now.

"What?" Meier asks, slowly standing up with Charlotte.

Potter shakes his head. "Never mind us," he says and then smiles. "Would you two like to come to stay at my castle?" he asks and motions around them. "It's not quite as fancy as this place but I can promise you – no one's going to bother you there."

Meier eyes him suspiciously. "Who are you?" he demands. "I – I am very grateful to you for saving Charlotte's life, but just who are you?"

"My name is Harry Potter. I'm the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft, Wizardry and Sorcery, and you, my dear," he turns to Charlotte, "as a witch you fall under my purview. Tell me, has anything strange ever happened around you?"

Charlotte eyes him with disbelief. "Stranger than _this_?" she asks faintly, motioning around them.

Leila snorts and shakes her head. This is insane. Bloody countesses and witches and now sorcery. And the famous dhampir vampire hunter being in some sort of... pact with a vampire. Why the hell not. "Hey can I come too?" she asks.

"The more the merrier," Harry Potter says and glances at her. "If you have anything you want to bring along, go get it now."

"Right-o," Leila says and frowns. Going back to the tank doesn't really appeal to her – she's not sure she wants to see the state Grove might be in. There is very little chance he survived that last attack and... It might have been long time coming, but still, she isn't sure she wants to know.

"I'll be right back," she says and turns to head away. And it doesn't strike her until she's already out of the hall, how easy it was to leave Charlotte and Meier alone with the strange vampire lord. How strange.

Harry Potter had no vampire's presence.


	2. Chapter 2

Leila can still remember the day she'd been taken in by the Marcus brothers. She'd been nothing but a stupid little girl about to get herself killed going after a bad guy way out of her league and they'd seemed... so big, all of them. Nolt was like a mountain, Borgoff seemed so old and mature with his cigars, Kyle was funny and always made her laugh and Grove...

Back then Grove could still walk and he'd been so nice to her. Even when she'd been doing little more than kicking and screaming at them, he'd been nice – they'd all taken care of her. She'd amused them, probably, or maybe reminded them of how they used to be, when they started out, cock sure and borderline suicidal.

They'd taken care of her, showed her the business, taught her to really hunt vampires, and she'd found a home among them she was so damn sure would never fall. They'd all seemed so strong, with all their weapons and the tank, all that experience...

To see the tank know, with Nolt gone, Kyle ripped to shreds and Borgoff first turned into a vampire and then killed by Grove... it's unspeakably horrible. The tank is dark and it looks so empty, sitting there still in the shadow of the Castle of Chayte, left behind to rot by the hunters who'd gotten cocksure and then gotten themselves killed.

How is it that after all this time she's the one who ended up outliving them all? She'd never been half as good at the job as any single one of them. Hell, Grove lost the ability to move or live without life support and he was still miles ahead of her when it came to sheer body count. And now they were all, just like that, wiped out.

"Shit," Leila murmurs, running a hand over her face. Vampire hunters killed by a vampire, more news at eleven. Except it's not news. It doesn't even make a good story to pass around a fucking bar, it's so damn common. All they'd been was little luckier than most. Until now.

She hesitates at the door to the tank for a moment before steeling herself. D would be getting his horse and getting out in no time at all, and she has no intention of being left behind into this fucking ruin.

Leila opens the door and braces herself. No smell hits her, nothing but the usual smell of gunmetal of the tank and human sweat of cramming five people day in and day out into a space so small. No vomit. No piss. The heart monitor is silent.

Grove had died with dignity. Though, knowing how it went for him... it couldn't have been dignified. Couldn't have been anything other than excruciatingly painful. He always promised her it wasn't, it was just muscle spasms, his seizures, but... he'd never been the best liar.

Now that she's in the tank, she has to see.

Hitting the light-switch, Leila moves into the tank, going straight for Grove's bedroll. There he is, bundled up in his thickest clothing, looking for all the world to see as if he's just sleeping. The syringe she'd been expecting is there too – lying on the metal floor beside his cot, obviously fallen from his limb hand now hanging over the edge.

"Oh, Grove," Leila whispers and takes his hand, intending to rest it on his chest. It would be awful to just leave him like this, in this fucking tank that has been more a prison for him than anything else for so many years, but... it's not like Nolt, Kyle and Borgoff got any better. Borgoff is splattered across the walls in some hall in Castle of Chayte and both Nolt and Kyle had been buried in graves too shallow for their stature. In comparison, the tank makes a decent tomb.

His hand is warm. Leila holds it in her own for a moment and then frowns. It has been nearly an hour since he threw his other self at Borgoff – how is he still warm.

"Oh my fucking – Grove?" Leila asks in surprise and quickly looks up to the heart monitor. Nothing. Because he's not hooked into it. Muttering curses Leila quickly searches for a pulse on his wrist – and there it is, so painfully close to the surface because he has zero meat on his bones. It's a little slow, little erratic – but for Grove, it's still going on strong.

"Shit," Leila mutters and looks at his worn, withered face. "Grove, you bad ass mother fucker."

Grove, utterly unconscious, says nothing of course, but she takes his slow inhale as smugness. Tsking at him, Leila quickly goes to hook in his IV, he must be dehydrated to hell right now – and then she hesitates.

Without Borgoff, Nolt and Kyle...

"Shit," she mutters again and runs a hand over her face, looking at him. She doesn't want to stay here, doesn't want to be this anymore. Not after all of this, not after going after people like Meier Link and Charlotte Elbourne got most of them killed and for what? To find two idiot lovebirds at the end of it? Maybe it's what D had said, about normal life, but... mostly she's just full of it now. She's done.

She's fucking out of the damn tank and maybe she has no idea where to go or what to do after but... she's pretty sure it's little less likely to get people killed, no matter what she does.

After moment of looking at Grove, Leila makes a decision. "I'm going," she says to him and reaches for the IV bag – taking it off the hook. "And you're coming with me."

* * *

 

She runs into D on the hall leading to where they left the vampires and the human girl. D is leading his horse in without any care for the fine flooring and rich carpeting the thing is tracking all sorts of dirt on. The cyborg horse, if it's at all nervous about entering a castle of the Nobility, doesn't seem to care either.

D stops when he spots her, turning to look at her. His eyes slide down to Grove and then back to her eyes, and the question is barely visible in his expressionless face.

"D, Grove, Grove, D," she says and looks down. Grove is still out cold, his head resting against her shoulder, next to the IV bag she hooked onto her shoulder pad. She'd wrapped her in all the blankets she could easily get and he still feels like a bird in her arms, all brittle bones.

"He's the spirit," D comments in realization.

"Mm-hmm – his other self, we call it," Leila says. "Let me tell you, I'm really hoping there are beds and a place I can get supplies for him at this castle we're going."

D's eyes narrow a little, though not at her – at Grove. "Hmm," he says and then turns to continue down the hall.

Leila rolls her eyes and follows him. Grove's breaths are slow and shallow against her neck, but at least they keep her up to date on the fact that he is, still, breathing. "So," she says. "What's the deal with you and the vampire? Spied some history there."

Nothing. Of course not.

"Vampire hunter and a vampire, being all buddy buddy," Leila prods at him. And again noting. "Oh, come on. Or is it a magical thing that happens only while it rains during full moon while you've been buried under the roots of thousand year old tree?"

"... what?" D asks.

"You, talking," Leila says.

"Magic doesn't work like that."

Leila stares at him. "Okay then, you're a magic expert too, wonderful," she says. "Still, summoning a Noble like that. How the hell did you do it anyway?"

D says nothing for a moment and Leila rolls her eyes, turning away to ignore him – which honestly seems like the less frustrating option all around – when he finally opens his mouth. "The castle stands over a village, there should be a hospital there."

"The place we're going?"

"Castle of Hogwarts," D answers and glances at her. "You might want to look into staying there – last I saw, the village lacked a sheriff."

Leila almost quaffs at him. "Sheriff, me?" she asks and laughs. "That is the most ridiculous thing I've heard come out of your mouth so far!"

He shakes his head and looks ahead again. "You might like it," he comments.

Leila tsks. "Yeah, right," she mutters. "After years of vampire hunting I'll be lucky to be employed at all. Vampire hunters come with vampire problems."

D lets out a sigh. "Yes, they do," he agrees and lifts his chin a little.

They're entering the main hall now, the place which looks like a damn throne room. The two vampires are still there, as is the human girl – Harry Potter is sitting on the stairs leading to the now broken tomb of Carmilla or whatever, while Meier watches his lady love pace in front of Potter.

"... have powers like that," she's saying. "Even if I did have something like that, what would make it so different? I've seen people use telekinesis, a man in our village could see into the future – were they magical too?"

"They might've been. Having magical abilities and having _magic_ are two very different things, though," D's vampire, Harry, explains while leaning his chin to his palm and watching her. "Though you can have both at the same time, when you have the first without the other, it tends to..." he trails off as his eyes stray over to D and Leila. "... drain you dry..."

Leila gently adjusts her hold on Grove and then steps forward. "This is Grove, he's coming with me and I don't care if you mind."

D's vampire stands up, frowning a little – and he really doesn't seem to have a vampire's presence. It's almost as if he's not there at all. Weird. "I don't mind," Harry says slowly, glancing at D and then back at Leila. "Is he... alright?"

"He had a seizure and he's unconscious," Leila says flatly. "But he's alive."

The vampire frowns a little. "Seizure, huh," he says, looking a little troubled.

"Yeah, a seizure," Leila says, a little harsher now. "You got problem with that?"

Some people did, when they found out about Grove. Mostly people didn't because for that exact reason the Marco brothers had always kept Grove out of sight, but ever so often it happened that they needed to escort people – usually people kidnapped by vampires – back home and it was always the same thing.

_Oh that's disgusting. What's wrong with him?_

"The transport I had in mind can be a little rough," Harry says slowly and runs his fingers over his chin. "If your friend is prone to seizures, some safety measures might be in order."

"Such as?" Leila asks dangerously.

"Petrification maybe," the vampire says thoughtfully. "It would keep him from being rattled during the travel, though – he's breathing pretty shallowly, petrification might not be the best thing to do..."

"You want to turn him into _stone_?!" Leila snaps.

"What – no, just stiff as a board – no, never mind," the vampire says and takes something from his left sleeve – a long, thin stave of wood. "I'll wrap him up in cushion charms, throw a Forced Air on him, hmm, maybe a floating charm too... Do you mind?"

Leila eyes him suspiciously, glancing at D – but D looks impassively calm. "No, but if anything happens to Grove..." she trails off dangerously.

"I'm sure I will be accordingly punished," Harry agrees and then steps closer.

As they all watch, Meier and Charlotte included, D's vampire does something with his thin stave, running it over Grove's still form in Leila's arms. She feels the change instantly – he turns strangely light in her hold, his weight first lessening and then disappearing entirely as he sort of floats above her arms. It makes her clutch onto him automatically, and so she feels the next change too. It's like suddenly he's wrapped in half a foot of invisible wool on all around.

"That's magic?" Charlotte asks uncertainly, as Harry Potter taps his wand against Grove's chin, and suddenly Grove inhales deeper – no, rather is forced to inhale by the very air forcing itself into his lungs, like respirator without actual respirator.

"This is magic," Harry agrees, considering Grove's face. Then he glances at his blood red pendant. It's not glowing anymore and touching it the vampire makes a face. "This young man has some special abilities, doesn't he?"

Leila frowns. "So?" she asks.

The vampire glances at her and then looks down at Grove again. "It's nothing, I suppose," he says a little sadly and then looks away. "Is everyone ready to go, then?"

Meier comes closer, looking troubled. "You still haven't told us where, precisely, are we going," he says slowly, as he moves to Charlotte's side and rests an arm around her waist. "To this school of yours, yes, but where is it?"

"I – don't really know where we are so I tell you how far away is it," Harry admits and glances at D. "The castle sits on a hill overlooking a town named Terwich, though. The region is called the Terwich region too, these days."

"It's about two thousand miles west from here," D says.

No wonder it says nothing to Leila. "Well as long as there's a bed for Grove and somewhere I can hang his IV bag, I'm good to go," she says.

"A Noble's castle so close to a human town?" Meier asks slowly, suspiciously. "The people must be..."

"We have an arrangement," Harry shrugs and considers them. "There's something I need to do first, though," he says and holds out the thin stave again. "Hold still now – I need to key you guys into the wards or you won't see the castle at all."

He does Charlotte and Meier first, tapping their chests with the thing and staring at nothing for a moment before nodding and turning to Leila and Grove. What he does, Leila can't really tell – it doesn't really feel like anything, though it looks like it takes some concentration on the vampire's part.

D, she notices, doesn't seem to need the treatment.

"There we go," Potter says and takes out something from under his cloak – a small ball of thick yarn. He waves the thin stave over it, concentrating, and the puts the stave away while everyone frowns in confusion.

"This is a Portkey, it's... call it a teleportation device, I guess," the vampire says, unwinding the yarn and considering Grove for a moment. He tries the end gently around Grove's thin wrist, unwinding more of the yarn and holding the loose middle out for the rest of them. "Hold onto it, and it will take you to my castle."

D grabs hold of the yarn, considering it and then tying it around his horse's head. Harry gives him an awkward, approving smile and then holds the yarn out to Meier and Charlotte.

"That is –" Meier frowns. "That can't work, teleportation takes enormous amount of power. A mere length of yarn –"

"Don't question the magic," Harry says. "You'll take away its power."

"Really?"

"No. Take hold of the yarn," D's vampire orders and hesitantly Charlotte grabs a section of the yarn, eyeing it with confusion. Meier, of course, follows her lead, though he doesn't look very pleased about it.

Leila winds her wrist around the end dangling from Grove's wrist and holds him close. It's still weird, how weightless he is in her hold, but for now she's go with it. "Now what."

"Give it a moment," Harry says, holding the ball of yarn in his palm. "It's on timer. Ten seconds."

Somehow during this hellish day, it's the most uncertain ten seconds so far.

"Are you sure –" Meier asks suspiciously, and then his words are cut in half.

Rough, the vampire says. Rough isn't half of it. It's like being thrown against a wall that isn't there, and then through it, and through the wall behind that one too, all the while being squeezed down by gravity suddenly ten times stronger than it should be. Leila can't breathe, she almost panics about it, panics about Grove, how he could handle something like this

And then she crashes on her knees on stone floor, somewhere else. D lands on his feet, the graceful asshole, while his horse comes crashing down on heavy metal hooves and  Meier hurriedly steadies a faltering Charlotte, keeping her from stumbling over. Harry doesn't seem like he even moved, it's more like the world moved around him. The one who came out the best, though, is Grove.

Leila had lost a grip on him and now he's floating weightless in the air in front of him, coming down slowly like an enormous soft feather.

"There we go," Potter says, tugging on the ball of yarn a little. Its end disappears from Leila's grip and Grove's wrist, disappearing from everyone else's hands too until Potter is holding a tightly wrapped ball of yarn again. He hides it under his cloak again and then turns away. "Madame!" he calls.

Leila catches Grove before he can hit the floor, never mind how light he is. With his weightless form in her arms again, she stands up and looks around. They're in... Strange looking hospital? There are beds – actual beds, not gurneys – arranged like hospital beds, separated by white curtains, all of them neatly with perfectly white linens, all of them bed.

There are no machinery though, no heart monitors – there isn't even so much as a hook or stand for IV or blood bags.

And then there is a fucking ghost in the room and the only reason Leila doesn't go for her gun is because she's holding onto Grove. The ghost is humanoid, a woman even, and she floats in through the wall, scowling slightly until her eyes find Harry Potter. "Now what have you done?" the ghost asks, floating down to him. "Did you break your arm again?"

"I haven't broken my arm in... Merlin I don't even know how long," D's vampire mutters. "Never mind that, I have two patients for you. This one is Charlotte, she was bitten by illusion vampire and lost a lot of blood – I've given her two blood replenishing potions."

"Ah, that's what those were for," the ghost mutters and then looks at Leila – no, at Grove. "A magicless?" she asks then, her expression turning tight. And how a ghost's expression can turn tight when she doesn't even have damn muscles, Leila doesn't know, but it does.

"Yeah, I think so," the vampire lord says sadly.

"What is that?" Leila demands.

Harry looks at Grove and sighs, looking regretful and awkward. "That's what happens when you have a magical ability – but no magic of your own," he says and shrugs uncomfortably. "It's... what happened to most descendants of wizards."

"What?" Leila asks with confusion, while D just sighs.

"Get him on the bed," the ghost says to Leila, who just frowns at her. "Now, girl, set him down and we'll see what we can do for him. You too, girl," she says to Charlotte. "Lay down until I can have a look at you. And you," she whirls to D. "Get that thing out of here! Horses in my hospital wing, honestly!"

"I'm not going to be ordered around by – what even are you?" Leila asks with disbelief while D takes his horse by the reigns and begins ushering it away. "What is this?"

"I," the ghost says imperiously. "Am Madam Poppy Pomfrey, the matron of Hogwarts and a _nurse_. Now lay him down so that I can have a look at him.""

"I –"

"Now, girl! And you too, you're wavering where you stand, at least sit down!"

Charlotte sits down promptly, Meier firm at her side, and Leila lays Grove down on the nearest bed.

Harry Potter looks between them – and the door where D had disappear with his horse. "Welcome to Hogwarts," he says hastily and hurries after the dhampir.

And thus Leila is left alone with unconscious Grove who is being tended to by a busybody _ghost_ , a very confused former human hostage how turned witch, and a vampire Noble who doesn't seem to know what to do with himself… and herself, thoroughly out of a job now.

Honestly, the day is looking up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that.


End file.
